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GAIA - AAA terrain generator, procedural texturing, planting and scene creation

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by AdamGoodrich, May 21, 2015.

  1. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Hi,

    Welcome to Gaia, the terrain and scene generation system for Unity.

    Gaia enables rapid and precise creation of gorgeous looking Unity environments in just minutes - so that you can focus on the game play that surprises and delights you and your customers!

    Gaia is artist and developer friendly, precise, and fast - and you wont need to be a fractal genius to get gorgeous results! It's different to all the other terrain systems out there because it combines the best of manual and procedural systems to allow you to design your environments in a way that intuitively just works. Most people are amazed at what they can create in minutes - and with a little application you can do stunning things. Alternatively you can just auto generate every thing :)

    Check out how Crowfall are blending the talent of the artist with the procedural capability of Gaia to create environments that are simply stunning:

    This video by Crowfall makes extensive use of Gaia, GeNa, CTS and Pegasus:



    And we are honored to have Jon O'Neal, Lead Environmental Artist from Crowfall talk about his experience crowdfunding Crowfall, and his experience with Procedural Worlds tool set :)



    And Shroud Of The Avatar is doing amazing things as well:



    Gaia is more than just a tool, it's also a community! This forum is very active and my goal is to make it a friendly place where people come to learn and share their creativity as much as to solve problems. The forum's motto is 'if we didn't see it then it didn't happen!'. So much so that in the 1.5 release we even including a screen shot system to make it easy for you to generate those screenies!! It's a great place to share and learn!

    Speaking of screenies - check out the #madewithgaia twitter hashtag to get a sample of what people are doing with Gaia!

    Documentation:
    Forum - A forum and knowledge repository specific to Gaia
    Tutorials - A whole ton bunch of tutorials - don't forget your Quick Start guide
    Free & Cool Assets - 180 + categorized free assets to add value to your game
    Discord - Connect and have a chat

    News:
    * January 2022 - Canopy Launches - our new community and support system
    * April 18th 2021- Gaia 2021 Launches - lightweight version of Gaia Pro 2021
    * April 16th 2021 - Gaia Pro 2021 Launches - streaming, photogrammetry assets
    * Oct 13th, 2019 - Gaia Pro Launches
    * April 14th 2020 - Gaia 2 Launches - multi tile, gpu acceleration and much more!
    . Gaia 1 > Gaia 2 - FREE update
    * April 14th 2020 - Gaia Pro 2.2 update launches - massive worlds, time of day +++
    * October 13th 2019 - Gaia Pro launches - multi tile, gpu acceleration and much more!
    * May 5th 2018 - Gaia 1.7 launches - terraces, erosion, more content, u2018 and more.
    * January 23rd 2018 - Gaia achieves 900 ratings with an average of 5 stars - incredible!
    * September 30th 2017 - Gaia achieves 800 ratings with average 5 stars - thank you :)
    * September 13th 2017 - CTS nominated as finalist in the "Best Tool" category in 2017 Unity Awards
    * September 12th 2017 - Gaia achieves 250 written reviews - amazing!
    * June 25th 2017 - Launched CTS - The Complete Terrain Shader to match Gaia!
    * June 11th 2017 - Gaia achieves 700 reviews with an average 5 star rating! :)
    * May 16th 2017 - Crowfall reveal - extensive use of Gaia, GeNa, Pegasus and CTS!
    * March 8th 2017 - Gaia achieves 600 reviews with an average 5 star rating! Still Wow!
    * January 25th 2017 - Gaia achieves 555 reviews with an average 5 star rating! Wow!
    * November 27th 2016 - Gaia achieves 500 reviews with an average 5 star rating!
    * October 31st 2016 - Spoke about Asset Store development at Unite in Australia
    * October 30th 2016 - Released Gena - the perfect accompaniment to Gaia
    * September 8th 2016 - 450 5 star reviews, 151 written reviews - thank you so much!
    * August 31st 2016 - Another nice review of Gaia from Nuclear Fiction
    * August 17th 2016 - Lovely review from IGD Sunshine Magazine
    * June 27th 2016 - Crowfall show off Gaia in their pipeline - 01:13:00 & 09:20:00
    * May 20th 2016 - 350 reviews with an average 5 star rating - in just 7 months!!
    * April 27th 2016 - A video from Crowfall showing Gaia in use
    * April 9th 2016 - Made the Gaia slack group live - PM me to get acces
    * April 4th 2016 - 80.lv promote new Gaia Starter Pack from SpeedTree
    * March 31st 2016 - 300 Five star reviews and 114 written reviews - wow!
    * March 20th 2016 - Gaia is first non SpeedTree asset on SpeedTree store
    * March 16th 2016 - See us on the Unity stand at GDC
    * March 15th 2016 - Gaia unboxing on 80.lv
    * March 6th 2016 - Interview with John Rossitter on the Cinema Suite blog
    * Feb 24th 2016 - 200 Five star ratings and 79 written reviews milestone
    * Feb 22nd 2016 - Version 1.5 released
    * Feb 9th 2016 - Unity Blog - Launching a successful product on the asset store
    * Feb 9th 2016 - Facebook - Full text of my product launch tips
    * Oct 29th 2015 - Version 1 live (record time)
    * Oct 27th 2015 - Version 1 submitted

    Typical work flow:
    * Create your terrain
    * Stamp your terrain features with a few clicks
    * Procedurally texture, detail, plant and populate your terrain with another click
    * Add your wind, water, player and screen shotter with another click
    * Add your lighting and camera fx - one more click
    * Press play!!

    Portfolio:
    Total time from zero to gorgeous - 10 minutes... no really!!





















    Features:
    * Vanilla Unity terrain support - compatible with everything that uses a standard unity terrain
    * Terraforming system - the world is malleable putty, stamp any shape you want
    * Processing system - erosion, terracing, masking, noise and filtering - unlimited expansion
    * Procedural texturing, detailing, tree and game object spawning and placement system
    * Point Of Interest spawning - spawn towns, villages, cemeteries etc with just a few clicks
    * Scanning system - add as many new terrain stamps as you want
    * Extension system - leverage your favorite assets with just a few clicks
    * Session system - record every step, remove steps, backup and share and playback entire scenes with one small file
    * Utilities - light and camera, export, import

    Intuitive Terra-forming / Stamping system:
    * Terrain creation, import, add or subtract details and features
    * Precise feature placement and control - treat your terrain features like any 3d object!
    * Additive feature generation and placement e.g. mountains, mesa's, hills, rocks, city bases
    * Mix and blended features together - mixing and matching, with unlimited possibilities
    * Stenciled feature generation - imprinting one feature onto another
    * Subtractive feature generation -- scoop out lakes, waterfalls, craters
    * Take your existing environments and detail to spice them up
    * Huge range of pre-configured templates from mountains, mesa's, hills, plains, islands, valleys, rivers and rocks - mix and match them into unlimited possibilities - 150 stamps included!
    * Mask your stamps with images and noise to further refine how they get applied

    Procedural Spawning system:
    * Texturing - height, slope, texture, proximity, noise and mask based
    * Detail placement (grass) - height, slope, texture, proximity, noise and mask based
    * Tree placement - height, slope, texture, proximity, noise and mask based
    * Game object placement - height, slope, texture, proximity, noise and mask based
    * Point Of Interest placement - relative placement of groups of prefabs in scene
    * Extensible - run time, real time or in editor, instance control, shape, mask and trigger options





    Example Point Of Interest spawning - spawn towns, villages, cemeteries, unusual features in a few clicks - all placed in the right locations and conforming nicely to the terrain. Also supports stackable extensions - used above to re-texture under the spawned POI, and to change the grass characteristics.

    NOTE: Unity forums regularly delete my images. For more images, videos and and up to date development progress please drop by https://www.facebook.com/proceduralworlds :)

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jan 2, 2022
  2. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Check out the diversity of Gaia. All terrains and texturing was done with Gaia. Some spawning was also done with Gena. The majority of these worlds were put together in 10 - 20 minutes!

















    (My apologies if any of these links break - the unity forum regularly breaks image links)
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2022
  3. S4G4N

    S4G4N

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    @AdamGoodrich
    Great looking images.

    I really like long distance and closer area, they have a very authentic lazy afternoon look & feel

    This is a package to watch, I love building terrain, and this is looking excellent
     
    spryx and AdamGoodrich like this.
  4. Archania

    Archania

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    Looking really good. Would this also support rtp? Just because I have it lol. Or do you not really need it?
     
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  5. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yes it will be fully compatible with RTP - whether or not you use RTP will be up to you.



    This terrain was generated by my stuff, and then textured with RTP :)
     
    BackwoodsGaming likes this.
  6. Archania

    Archania

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    Oh hell ya.
    Now be able to do lakes and rivers lol.
    Beautiful.
    Need a tester I'm in :)
     
  7. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Actually lakes are on my road map - and i have some ideas for rivers but they are a lot harder :)
     
  8. GreenBoxInteractive

    GreenBoxInteractive

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    Looks great!
     
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  9. Whippets

    Whippets

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    Yep, rivers and other waterways would make this a definite buy.
    Looking good so far. Are the first 3 images with RTP? The rock faces look great.
     
    AdamGoodrich likes this.
  10. MarcusWatson

    MarcusWatson

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    Fantastic work! Going beyond features, I think example workflows and scenes are going to be one of major points at launch. If anything it'll save you having to answer loads of questions just after launch when you'll be most likely to want to rest from it all ;-)

    The UI is probably in its infant stages at the moment as you're more focussed on nailing the features down. If you've got any samples of how it looks now, could we have a peek at that too?

    Thanks. I've got RTP/TerrainComposer/WorldComposer/Mapity - I can definitely see myself adding this to my 'mapping arsenal' based on the quality your system has shown so far:)
     
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  11. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Actually no - that's just normal untouched unity terrain.
     
  12. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Great points - i have been watching the other forums quite closely - and the reason I have taken so long to get it this far is because I keep rewriting and simplifying it. This is actually it's third rewrite :)
     
  13. MarcusWatson

    MarcusWatson

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    It's definitely a tricky one. I'm strictly amateur and I use TerrainComposer's examples as a starting point (usually 'Plateau' and go from there, changing trees, tweaking layers etc. Then there are those more skilled/professional folks out there who build everything in it from scratch and know all the intricacies.

    I don't know whether this means you end up with 'basic/wizard mode' and 'advanced mode', or whether you want to start basic then build on it after it's been released. There are any number of tools out there for post-processing terrains (adding trees, erosion, rivers etc) so it could be a case of starting basic then building over time once you've got more people using it. You don't want to end up with analysis paralysis :)
     
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  14. b4c5p4c3

    b4c5p4c3

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    Great Job
     
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  15. Teila

    Teila

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    Fantastic! I can't wait to see more.
     
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  16. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    I hear you - a friend of mine asked me to teach a course on terrain generation - and i thought a lot about it. What i realized is that most people just need a place to start - and that was a big motivation to the approach i ended up settling on. As the same time, as you can see from my screen shots - i have not in the least compromised on quality :)
     
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  17. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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  18. nosyrbllewe

    nosyrbllewe

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    Curious, how does it compare to Terrain Composer. Regardless, it looks great.
     
  19. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    A good question :)

    It's been over a year since I used TC, so TC may have changed a lot since I last looked. Its also quite a mature tool - and has everything and the kitchen sink as well. Its biggest challenge in my opinion is it's complexity. Great power but also at a massive learning curve cost.

    I suppose the short answer is that mine is all about simplicity. The approach I have taken is to allow you to take the best of fractal features such as mesas, mountains etc and to scale, rotate and place them individually into your scene.

    Its actually quite difficult to get fractals to do what you want them to do. My approach allows you to compose your scene exactly the way you want it rather than to have it composed for you.
     
  20. smada-luap

    smada-luap

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    Same here.

    Also, what about raising/lowering just a part of the landscape so that you can create shear rock faces without the smooth transitioning from the ground outside the 'brush' area?
     
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  21. imaginaryhuman

    imaginaryhuman

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    It looks good. I don't really like how spotty the grass and trees are, non-natural, but the mountain shapes look nice.
     
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  22. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    I have the concept of both adding to the landscape and removing from it. You could potentially just bite the cliffs out of the terrain :)
     
  23. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Good observation :) I wasn't going to post anything for another week or so, but someone asked for it, so i thought i would put it out there. The trees and grass were a quick bodge up job - and are not really indicative of what the final result will be. Even the texturing was quick n dirty. I needed a break from coding and wanted to play for awhile.
     
  24. KitoCode

    KitoCode

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    Great job so far. I agree with imaginaryhuman. With a quick look, it looks amazing but with from a constructive feed back perspective.

    Take a break, you are doing a fantastic job. Keep it up.
     
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  25. skullptor

    skullptor

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    Hi Adam
    it looks amazing!
    keep the good work :D
     
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  26. Teila

    Teila

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    I have this love-hate relationship with Terrain Composer. I love what i can do but I don't use it enough to remember how I did it last time so seem to have to learn it all over. I finally gave up and only use it to stitch tiles together if I mess them up. :) Even tree placement is going to use something else now.

    How will your product work with terrain tiles (split terrains) and with height maps? I have my own height map that was made in World Machine and am wondering if I could use it with your product to generate my terrain. That way I could use your tools to modify. I love my terrain as it is now, but I am always looking for ways to make it better.
     
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  27. John-G

    John-G

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    Amazing results if this is a simple to use as you say, likewise I have TC and WC but still have no idea how to use them due to complexity of the user interface.
    If your system is user friendly and quick to acheive great result, you have an instant but from me.
    Would like to see a video of a terrain being created with your system.
    Also if you need beta testers keep me in mind ;)
     
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  28. chingwa

    chingwa

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    It looks great Adam!
    The greatest problem I had with Terrain Composer was striking a balance between generating a general terrain with interesting details quickly, and also being able to add detail specifically in a way I wanted... fine-tuning a terrain was extremely tedious and I always had to resort back to the unity terrain tools too much which, (I think I speak for everyone here by saying ARGH!) Do you plan on including any tools that would make adjusting terrain either in-engine, or even in-game easier?

    Looking forward to seeing more of your progress!
     
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  29. Baldinoboy

    Baldinoboy

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    Looks really amazing. I love the idea of simplicity. Sorry but I am not smart. I can not memorize a lot of settings and tools. This terrain extension looks amazing. Would love to hear more about this. Also would love to be a tester if down the line are looking for any.
     
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  30. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    I want to wait until it's a little closer to release before showing off how the editor works - but in a nutshell it is all about manipulating terrain - so it will happily interact with your terrain. It also has an undo feature so you can try something and undo it if you don't like it.
     
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  31. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    I will create some video's when its closer to completion. I often won't buy something myself it it lacks what seems like reasonable support.
     
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  32. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yep - anyone who has every created something knows that simplicity is not so easy to achieve :)
     
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  33. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yep - i did a large terrain project recently and even though I had all the tools from my earlier work, it was still very time consuming. That project was where I had the AHA moment to change my approach and this is way more precise and way faster with imho a better result.

    With respect to real time game generation - I did a bunch of prototyping of in game terrain generation in earlier iterations - and to do that needs multi-threading support and complete decoupling from Unity. I have taken those lessons forward into this - so for example my HeightMap class is completely unity agnostic and this is where a lot of the low level work happens. This means that adapting this to real time generation would be relatively easy. That said my initial focus will be in-editor as this is where the majority of games are made. If there is demand then I might re-approach in game generation.

    I don't know if I will ever do a pure in game editor - it could be done - but sounds like a massive amount of work and am not sure if there would be a demand for it.
     
  34. BackwoodsGaming

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    I'm with a lot of the others here.. I have both TC and WC, but the learning curve is a bit much for the time I'm able to put into my development right now. Kind of more hobbyist with aspiration to be more down the road. When I have time to dig into it, I eventually figure it out but then it is a long time before using it again and I have to relearn. Would love a tool with some of the same capabilities that is a little more user friendly for those of us not doing terrain design every day.. Even if it doesn't have all the features. If it has at least the features that would fit my needs, it would definitely go on my wish list for when funds are there!
     
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  35. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    I think you will be pleasantly surprised - I will show off the techniques I use when its closer to completion :)
     
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  36. MarcusWatson

    MarcusWatson

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    Look, bud - I'm running out of 'Likes' here ;-)
     
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  37. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Hehe - me too :)
     
  38. NightmarexGR

    NightmarexGR

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    Hello . i would like to know if this plugin will be compatible with Unity 4.
    I have unity pro and RTP if you need testers please ask me :)
     
  39. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yes it will - the system generates vanilla Unity terrains - so it should go quite a way back.
     
  40. NightmarexGR

    NightmarexGR

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    When will you release that in the asset store ?
    I want to test and buy it , so can i be a tester or will there be a demo online ?
    How much will it cost once released ?
     
  41. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    I hope to have it there within the next few weeks - it will depend on how many other distractions my non Unity life throws at me. Price wise it will be comparable with the other assets on the store.
     
  42. NightmarexGR

    NightmarexGR

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    Will there be some sort of demo online with the real time world generation thing ?
     
  43. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Real time 'in game' world generation wont be part of the initial release as the majority of game development work is usually done in the Unity editor. If there is demand then I will look into adding it into a future release.
     
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  44. ThatGuyFromTheWeb

    ThatGuyFromTheWeb

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    Oh well ....

    I've been working on something like this for a while now. But i assume i need at least another half year or so to show something of it. It's funny and kind of a relief to see that i'm not the only one who doesn't get it right the first time. I'm also in rewrite 3 or something and have sworn to myself this has to be it or i'll throw it all away. :)

    Anyway ... those screenshots are looking damn pretty. Good work. And good luck with your asset.
     
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  45. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Hang in there Lerz.. there's always room for more innovation :)
     
  46. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Implemented a new binary storage format today, along with interpolated application of the feature (e.g. mountain) to the terrain. Then generated some tallish mountains and assembled this scene. From flat empty terrain to this was 20 mins.

     
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  47. NightmarexGR

    NightmarexGR

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    So the "General spawner - can be used for real time spawning and growth as well" feature is for the editor only so far :(
    Looking forward to it. The idea of real time in-game generation with a seed system will be great tho.
     
  48. S4G4N

    S4G4N

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    this looks so very real, love the tall mountains.
    Really epic movie look & feel
     
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  49. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yep the spawner will work both real time and in editor.
     
  50. Reanimate_L

    Reanimate_L

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    speaking of the terrain object spawner if it can generate some kind of forest formation with specified object group it would be awesome.